Democratizing corruption

The first question visiting BBC reporter Fergus Nicoll asked me during a live radio program from a sidewalk in Rockwell last Wednesday was direct to the point: What do you think is the most important legacy of President Aquino?

I didn’t have to think for the answer: He showed it was possible to be president and stay clean.

I quickly added, however, it is not enough for the President to be clean… he has to be effective as well. I talked about missed opportunities, low hanging fruits notably in the area of infrastructure. I should have added, making sure his people stay clean.

Later on in the show, Fergus asked me about Duterte and I told him what I wrote in this column some weeks ago… Duterte is a rock star in Philippine politics and he became one because many people are tired of what’s going on and want results. I warned I sensed a readiness of some to accept a more authoritarian leader and that could give the wrong people some bad ideas that could threaten our democracy.

Fergus didn’t ask me to comment on Daang Matuwid or P-Noy’s anti corruption drive. I would have said a mouthful. 

I would have said something about how corruption was democratized starting from the watch of Tita Cory. She and her son thought it was enough for them to be clean, but they both didn’t do anything about corruption among their own people.

Democratizing corruption came to my mind the other day when someone in an e-group of retired Ateneans (they included me even if I didn’t attend Ateneo but the public school next door) wondered if there was someone within Malacanang sabotaging P-Noy.

“Is it quite possible there is a RASPUTIN in BSAiii Palace? Let’s look at the past many months: ELECTRICITY RATE SCANDAL, LICENSE and PLATE SCANDAL, MRT/LRT SCANDAL, SUGAR and GARLIC SMUGGLING SCANDAL, MISHANDLING OF MAMASAPANO INCIDENT, UNACCOUNTED BILLIONS OF TYPHOON YOLANDA REHAB AID, and now TANIM BALA!

“They all seem to paint a very INCOMPETENT ADMIN of BSAiii under the Daang Matuwid.

“The Battle Cry of Mar Roxas is the same, and in my personal opinion, he is still tripping all over the place plus he has the STIGMA of the major scandals which have been essentially caused by DOTC and his anointed successor, Sec. Abaya!

“The unfolding events may be circumstantial but methinks, somebody is orchestrating a sinister plot for Mar Roxas to LOSE in favor of somebody else! Remember the NOYBI plot last 2010?”

Someone reacted: “It’s one or both of two things. Your suspicion could be correct; an evil 5th column inside the Palace could have orchestrated a whole series of damaging fails. And, P-Noy-Mar haven’t been smart enough to have figured it out and put a stop to it.

“Or, there’s no Rasputin. P-Noy and Mar are simply clumsy fumblers who don’t have the ability to run government.

“Same difference, isn’t it?”

My reaction: As far as the TanimBala is concerned, it is just that corruption has been democratized and places like airports are teeming with folks with evil intent and this government can’t deal with it. The top guys are clueless and the guys on the ground are likely in on it. Simple as that.”

It was so starkly clear in the months after EDSA 1. When Marcos was the dictator, corruption was centralized with him, his and the First Lady’s relatives and their friends. The rest of the bureaucracy was just too intimidated to try anything, with the probable exception of his favorite generals.

The democratization of corruption started when Tita Cory took over. The same old suspects in Customs, Immigration, BIR, etc, must have thought the return of democracy meant they are free to go back to their old ways. It didn’t matter that Tita Cory kept herself clean.

Talking privately with many business people these days, one gets the impression some people very close to P-Noy, some even members of his Cabinet, are involved in the despicable things going on at Customs – rice smuggling, garlic smuggling, two thousand containers lost without a trace and such funny things. Investigation is only by press release but no results.

While they name names in private, no one is brave enough or stupid enough to go public. But a dozen or more business people saying the same thing at different occasions can make one feel there must be something more to rumors of corruption in the realm of Daang Matuwid.

Big time corruption is one thing. What really hits the common man is the corruption at agencies that have the most contact with the public… the LTO, for instance. Also at Customs, PhilStar business reporter Iris Gonzales wrote a book on corruption at the waterfront agency and found out that even the security guards take their share of the loot.

I think TanimBala is another good example of corruption at the lowest level of government. The most vulnerable of our people are victimized, like OFWs and helpless grandmothers.

DOTC Sec Jun Abaya and his senior officials at NAIA deny there is a syndicate behind TanimBala. That may be true. There is probably no Mafia-type organized criminal ring. But as we have seen over the past two weeks, there seems to be coordination among taxi drivers, porters, luggage inspectors and some of the security people.

It is clear common folks are being harassed and being asked for money and other things… a NAIA security officer was entrapped by the NBI at a motel trying to get sexual favors from a victim. How could the NAIA airport general manager hire such a person? 

When the big guys connive to smuggle a load of rice or sugar, the impact is not easily felt at the grassroots level. Only if this is sustained will the impact on the economy eventually affect everyone.

With TanimBala or that sex for travel scam, the trauma is immediately felt at a very personal level and the horror of the experience lingers. The reaction to TanimBala is so enraged because everyone feels vulnerable, afraid he or she could be the next victim.

In a sense, democratized corruption shows a breakdown of control. It shows a President who is not attuned to what is going on below him. And when he or Mar keeps on highlighting Daang Matuwid as if it is a rousing success, it alienates people who know better out of personal experience.

It is not just me who feels this way. Another member of that Ateneo retirees forum had this reaction:

“While the perception among Cory-loyalists is that the presidential office may still be comparatively ‘clean’, it appears the practice of graft and corruption has NOW trickled all the way down to the level of the barangay. Can it be more foundational and ‘democratized’ than that?

“It seems everyone’s got a ‘gimmick’, gaming every hole as well as minute cracks in our system of government, not only in the Executive and Legislative branches, but it’s also prevalent in the Judicial branch.

“Maybe, in a case of widespread and systemic governance failure as extreme as this, a “Duterte/Bayani-type” leadership tandem is needed?

“We need a trustworthy leadership with basic common sense, with enough political will (or raw?) power to successfully enforce a sense of common discipline and responsibility among all, from the barangay tanod level up to the Malacañang Palace occupants.

 “Sometimes, I tell myself, what’s good about feeling the sense of living ‘free’ in a democratic society, when such freedoms spawn the very ills of lawlessness, disorder, and systemic poverty that render such freedom of spirits and a democratic, humane  lifestyle untenable, and for a majority actually unattainable…

“I’m just really worried that eventually, we will NO longer have the accidental blessing of the OFW phenomenon or the nomadic types of transient foreign investments like BPOs which now actually serve as a ‘relief/release valve’ to what could otherwise be widespread unemployment and poverty situation.”

Indeed, the patience and resiliency of the Filipino aside, we cannot go on abusing our people with the impunity we see now. Something has got to give, perhaps sooner rather than later.

Raid

NBI raids a tiangge in Divisoria.

NBI agent: Fake ang mga bags at damit na ito.

Tindera: No sir, lokal lang ang mga ito!

NBI agent: Lokal? YSL?

Tindera: Opo naman. Yari Sa Laguna.

NBI agent: Ang DKNY?

Tindera: Divisoria Kanto ng Ylaya.

NBI agent: GQ lokal pa rin?

Tindera: Aba opo. Galing Quiapo

NBI Agent: Lusot ka palagi ah! Eh ang Lacoste?

Tindera: Ay naku sir. Yung buwaya? Galing Congress!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco